Linderhof

Gardening, Cooking and Decorating on the Prairie of Kansas

Welcome to Linderhof, our 1920's home on the prairie, where there's usually something in the oven, flowers in the garden for tabletops and herbs in the garden for cooking. Where, when company comes, the teapot is always on and there are cookies and cakes to share in the larder.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Two Luncheons - One Centerpiece

This was my week of luncheons

One on Monday for St. Patrick's Day

and my Irish friends

And one on Monday

for the Lunch Bunch plus one!

The flowers in the market were sad

But not a big pot of violas

And I knew that it would work splendidly as a centerpiece

On the lace cloth

And on Monday a leprechaun left some gold covered chocolate coins

I always do an "Irish Farmhouse" luncheon on St. Patrick's Day

(the corned beef and cabbage is always for dinner)

My Spode transfer ware, a menu with a drawing of an Irish farmhouse

Irish linen napkins in silver rings

It's not an "American" St. Patrick's table

But rather one that one might find in a farmhouse in Ireland

if the mistress of the farmhouse had company for lunch!

Blue and white dishes, white damask linen napkins and a riot of yellow violas for the centerpiece

My Irish friends enjoyed my simple lunch

of creamy Irish potato and rosemary soup, Irish soda bread, and a salad of Kale, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. Dessert was more American than Irish -- a creme de menthe cake which was green (from the creme de menthe) but had a chocolate and a whipped cream topping.

(It tasted like a Girl Scout thin mint cookie!)

And on Wednesday,

The Lunch Bunch plus one

The one being the daughter of one Lunch Buncher

She was in town and we switched days so she could come

The same tablecloth, napkins and centerpiece

But the Aynsley Pembroke china, a menu with yellow violas on it,

and some wee iron birds that were a Christmas gift from the Lunch Bunch one year

I adore birds, in dishes and on the table

And admired the Pembroke for a long long time

And having given my Wedgwood to Daughter Sarah when she married,

I could indulge in the Pembroke

It is amazing, isn't it

What a change of dish ware can do to change a table!

A whole new look!

And a whole new menu!

A tea room lunch -- we started with the silver basket full of miniature cheddar herb scones which had been dipped in butter, the entree was cream of white bean soup and a pasta salad -- sun dried tomatoes and arugula with bow tie pasta salad. And dessert was a Meyer lemon curd tartlet -- my own lemon curd in a tartlet shell and decorated with a candied lemon slice and more of the yellow violas.

7 comments:

I don't often entertain any more, but a good friend (well, actually she was my maid of honour, lo, these many years ago) and a friend are coming for dinner in a few days, and I'm already having fun planning what sort of table setting and menu I'm going to have. You're so right about the way a few small changes can change the entire look of the table. That's what makes it all so much fun! Thanks for sharing. Love to the doggies. xoxox

The change of china does give the table a different look and the flowers in the centre looked nice with both.Your menu for each lunch sounded delicious, the lemon curd tart would be my favourite dessert.